Thirty-five push-ups. Thirty-five sit-ups. Thirty-five squats.
She was getting more used to her big body.
Her head feels better now.
Interacting with the statues was extremely mentally taxing, so she needed to cool off with some workouts before attempting another one.
She briefly heard about magic that could transfer information while she visited the magical city of Moradale.
All hearsay, she thought. She never actually saw anyone cast it.
Perhaps it was too expensive for her to receive any such treatment.
Munch. Munch. She had been here for quite a while now.
She can't count days while within the tower walls that block all concept of time, so she counts supply runs.
Even with the big pot, she had to go back to the seventh floor again for another big pot of cannonball fruit.
She had to go back to the third floor for more throwing shards.
Along the way, she caught another cavern caterpillar.
She skinned and cooked it on the seventh floor, where there was water.
She had to dump the water she boiled it with since there was no way to know if it was still safe to drink.
She still had some cooked and dried caterpillar meat that she saved.
It didn't give her a tummy ache after the first one, so she ate a piece without worry.
There was no salt to preserve the meat properly, but it appears the tower's mana itself prevents it from going bad.
She wraps the rest in caterpillar skin.
The meat was hard to come by.
But a small bite after every cannonball fruit prevents it from feeling bland and repetitive.
Meditation. The same routine.
Just the basic forms.
Telekinesis. Wyvern flame. RazenHeir flame. Earth sense.
Then some drilling.
The normal exercises she had practiced for years.
Then some more complex moves.
The vast chamber, which dwarfed the RazenHeir drill hall, offered her plenty of room to practice.
Munch. Munch. A cannonball fruit to replenish her energy.
Now to practice the stances she learned from the statues.
The brief session in her mind, though grueling, wasn't enough to bring her skills to a level she could use in combat.
She needs more practice to ingrain it into her muscles while the memory is still fresh in her head.
Eyes closed. She replays the battle over and over again.
The way the swordsman maintains a low stance.
It's a slow, steady march. The way it channels its mana as it pours an immense amount of mana into its barrier.
Hikari mimics its movements. It's mana flow.
Her flame barrier lit up the chamber.
Her supplies were safely tucked away behind the vault in the center of the room so she wouldn't burn them.
Now to practice throwing shards.
She grabbed a pouch of shards and climbed down the stairs to the previous level.
All of the stone walls were impervious to the amount of wyvern fire a shard could hold.
She doesn't want to use the wyvern knight's statues that carried their legacies as target practice.
The shard gently hovers over her palm.
She keeps her telekinesis to a minimum, using only the tower's natural mana to keep it afloat.
Several minutes passed.
Woosh! The shard flies straight into the wall and releases a spark of wyvern fire.
Clean. It lands exactly where she aimed.
She goes back up the stairs.
She would like more practice, but she might need to save the shards for actual combat.
Going all the way down to the third floor just for a resupply is quite a pain.
Perhaps she'll practice juggling with two shards.
That's an idea for the next practice session.
She pulls a stick from her harvest sack and places it at the end of the row.
It tracks time by the number of workouts.
Sleep. Workout. Sleep. Attempt the wyvern statue.
That's her routine now.
Seven sticks so far.
She started keeping track seven workouts ago.
Time for another nap.
She disassembles her wyvern skin and salamander skin.
She holds a small pot of water and pours it around her feet.
Standing upright, she channels her telekinesis.
The puddle rises and swirls around her body in a raging vortex, scrubbing away the grime.
It took her a lot of practice, but her body felt refreshed after she finally got her showering technique back up and running.
Fatigued, full, and refreshed, she goes to sleep.
…
She stands before the wyvern statue.
A spear wielder. The proportions were all wrong.
The real-sized spear was likely too tall to fit properly in the halls.
"Here goes."
She takes a deep breath and steps onto the tile.
The statue activates.
…
"What's this?"
She was pulled into another strange place.
A vast space.
Tall, thin pillars with hoops mounted above them.
Woosh. A wyvern flew overhead.
Hikari draws her sword and takes her stance.
The wyvern does flips and sharp turns, diving through hoop after hoop.
Hikari watches.
As she watches more closely, she sees a wyvern knight hiding on its back.
The wyvern begins a spiraling descent with her at the center.
Hikari's eyes follow it as it circles her.
It lands beside her.
The wyvern knight dismounts its wyvern.
The tamed beast folds its wings and sits still as its rider stands at attention.
Hikari keeps her sword and returns the greeting.
The flapping of wings above her.
Hikari looks up and sees a wyvern circling above her.
The flaps of its wings blow her hair back as it lands in front of her.
It folds its wings, exposing the saddle on its back.
Hikari felt delighted at the idea of riding a mount.
The wyvern knight clicks its heels together to get Hikari's attention.
It begins to mount its wyvern.
Hikari watches and learns.
The wyvern knight starts behind the wyvern.
The wyvern's tail is between its legs.
The knight shuffles forward, placing both palms onto the wyvern's back.
Gently, it moves its knees up to the wyvern's back.
Gracefully, the armored knight leans back, resting its legs on the saddle in front of the wyvern's wings.
Hikari nods as she watches very carefully.
The movements were certainly much simpler than the sharp, visceral combat moves of the previous two wyvern knights.
But she has never mounted a horse before because she's massive enough to piggyback a horse herself.
She placed her palms on the wyvern's back, just as the wyvern knight had done.
The wyvern started making strange sounds.
Hikari paused.
The wyvern knight, already fully mounted, turned its head.
Hikari glanced at the wyvern knight.
Neither approval nor disapproval showed on its hollow helmet.
She continues.
The wyvern's noises grew louder.
But the well-trained beast did not thrash about.
Her kneecap rests on the wyvern's back.
The wyvern was shouting nonstop.
Both her kneecaps were on the wyvern.
She had to tuck them in tight as the surface area was a little small for her.
The wyvern made more noises.
Steady. She kept her movements small.
She felt the wyvern sink downwards as she shifted her whole weight onto its back.
It wouldn't stop making noises.
She glanced at the wyvern knight's blank face as it turned and stared at her.
Gently, she pushed her legs forward and leaned back to shift them into position.
Thud. Her feet touched the ground in front of the wyvern's wings.
Her legs were longer than the wyvern knight's, who sat comfortably atop his mount.
Suddenly, the wyvern knight drew its spear and swung it in stylish circles above its head.
The wyvern's wings flapped.
With a thrust of its mighty legs, the wyvern pushed itself off the ground.
It began flying in an upward spiral, steadily gaining altitude.
Hikari was still grounded.
She wasn't sure what to do with her wyvern, which was stuck on the ground, making strange noises.
She looked up and saw the wyvern knight reach the height of its ascent.
The hoops lit up with fire.
The wyvern dives straight for a hoop, folding its wings as it passes at supersonic speed before spreading them again.
A burst of lift and a delicate pull of its reins set it on a straight-line trajectory toward the next hoop.
It clears the second hoop cleanly.
Hikari watches as her grounded wyvern continues making noises.
The wyvern knight pulls out its spear.
It flies past a pillar with a solid circular target board mounted.
The wyvern circles back towards the target board.
The wyvern knight holds its spear in one arm and aims.
As the wyvern flies past, the knight releases its spear, landing just outside the bullseye zone.
Hikari watches as her grounded wyvern continues making noises.
The wyvern knight continues.
A pair of hoops stacked vertically.
Braziers mounted along its rim burned.
The wyvern dives for the lower ring, spreading its wings immediately as it passes the hoop.
The lift carries it upward in a semicircular arc backward toward the second hoop.
Its rider pulls at its reins, giving it as much support as it can during this sharp turn.
The wyvern clears the hoop as the wyvern knight on its back hangs upside down.
It immediately makes a sharp turn, restoring normal flight before the centrifugal force holding the wyvern knight to its mount wears off.
Hikari watches as her grounded wyvern continues making noises.
The wyvern knight begins its descent, spiraling downward.
The beast lands without a hitch.
Its rider dismounts and turns to inspect Hikari.
She had been grounded the whole time it was doing its aerial maneuvers.
Her wyvern, pressed under her weight, continued making noises.
Hikari stared blankly at the wyvern knight, hoping for some advice.
It stared back at her with its hollow helmet.
Then it slapped its helmet, buried its face in its hand, and shook its head.
…
Hikari was back in the chamber.
The rune atop the wyvern statue lit up.
She scratched her cheek.